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Review: Sleek i-Divine Calm Before the Storm Palette

Another review on a palette, and another Sleek one, this time the Calm Before the Storm i-Divine palette. It’s a Limited Edition so I’m reviewing it before I’ve had much of a play with it in case they stop selling it as I often miss out on the Limited Edition Sleek ones because I’m too late. Having said recently that I was sorting through and decluttering my palettes I went and bought another one. I do love the colours in this one but I will admit it was probably a bit of an impulse buy as I was getting other things from Boots and I saw it and the colours were so pretty.

This is, like all i-Divine palettes, an eyeshadow palette with twelve colours. As these are in the Nautical Collection they’re sea themed and a lot of them are blue and greeny blues as you’d expect with that name. There are five shimmers, three with matte bases and glitter particles and four plain mattes. It costs £7.99 in Boots and on their own site and as it’s Limited Edition I’m not sure how long it’ll be around for. I haven’t actually seen this palette in stores but it’ll stand out with the packaging if it is.

I really like the card outer packaging for this one, it’s got various shades of blue and white stripes with a bright pink thick stripe at the bottom. In the middle is the anchor with the Nautical Collection Limited Edition on it and I just like how the blue, white and gold parts are very nautical themed and go with the name. Inside there’s the normal matte black plastic palette with the shiny logo, though it has the palette name ‘Calm Before the Storm’ and ‘Nautical Collection’ in white so you’ll be able to tell this one apart from the others when they’re closed if you just keep the black palette without having to turn it over and look for the name on the back.

The lid, like with other Sleek palettes, is covered inside by the large mirror and it stays open at whatever angle you want so they’re great for travel in case you don’t have a mirror wherever you are. There’s also the clear plastic sheet with the names on and the standard foam applicators that I never use, though they are pretty good as far as they go as they do hold the eyeshadow well, I just never use them.

The eyeshadows in this have two obvious colour palettes, there’s the blues and greens for the sea and then five that are neutral which could go with a driftwood or just wood in general idea for in the sea. Most of them are pretty warm toned neutrals, I’d say that adrift might be a cool tone but it’s borderline. This surprised me as I thought to go with the blues they’d use cool toned neutrals if they used any.

With the swatches they’re in the best light to show them true to life, which turned out to be both natural from the window and my lights on, I think it’s the British weather at the moment, it’s not sunny enough for just natural light no matter when I do it. The top of the picture is on top of Urban Decay Primer Potion and the bottom without, it’s more obvious on some than others where the line is.

Starboard – Warm slivery shimmer. Really creamy and pigmented on my finger but doesn’t seem to swatch like it. It’s a nice shimmer and the light catches it well so it’s really striking from an angle but not so much straight on. Creamy and blends out well.

Voyage – Matte terracotta base with silver and possibly gold small glitter. Very nice colour, the base is pretty pigmented for a matte but doesn’t blend out very well on a primer. Quite a bit of fallout but blends with other eyeshadows ok. Opaque in one of two layers, though you have to be careful when adding more as it’s one of the more powdery shadows in the palette.

Pacific – Matte royal blue. Very bright colour, though it isn’t that pigmented. One of the powdery eyeshadows that seems to stick and not blend well on primer but does with other shadows. Feels very smooth and easy to apply but needs at least two layers to be opaque.

Caesium – Matte light blue base with silver glitter. Not very pigmented, another powdery one that doesn’t bend very well. On primer opaque in a couple of layers. Applies evenly but there’s quite a bit of fallout.

Amphitrite – Royal blue shimmer with lighter blue/turquoise duochrome. Like starboard I was surprised at how little this colour shows from straight on. The duochrome is very pretty though and after a couple of layers it builds to an acceptable level on primer. Very creamy and blends well but disappointing.

Sovereign – Navy shimmer with royal blue douchrome. Like a darker version of Amphitrite, though more pigmented. Very creamy, blends well though it did take quite a bit of rubbing to remove it from my arm which makes me a bit more hesitant to use it on my eyes if it’s that hard to remove.

Ahoy! – Shimmery light taupe (I think). Very pigmented on a primer, creamy, great coverage and easy to blend. I think this is one of the stand out colours in the palette which surprised me with all the bright blues in here.

Barque – Matte warm mid brown. Very smooth and creamy though it appears powdery. Good pigmentation for a matte, one layer even without primer is ok pigment wise though it doesn’t last without primer. Blends pretty well even on a primer and applies smoothly.

Adrift – Slightly darker cool tone brown. This is a pretty neutral brown but I’d say it was more on the blue side than red so I’m going with cool tone. The same formula as Barque, pretty pigmented, goes on easily and blends well.

Seaweed – Shimmery light turquoise with silver shimmer. This is the colour that stood out the most to me when I saw the palette. Pigmentation is good on a primer but without it disappears. Blends well, creamy and easy to use though there is a bit of fallout with the silver shimmery particles if you try to do too much blending with it.

Navy Shower – Matte dark, dull turquoise base with silver shimmer. The description doesn’t sound great but I love this colour. It’s another matte that doesn’t blend very well on the primer but with other eyeshadows it’s great. It’s pretty pigmented and opaque with one layer on primer, smooth and creamy but there is some fallout from the glitter.

Lagoon – Matte deep turquoise. A gorgeous colour and feels so creamy when you use it, it almost looks like a cream shadow with the marks left in it. Applies very easily and opaque in one or two layers but when used on a primer it doesn’t blend that well, it just seems to stick there and is hard to budge. Used alongside another colour it blends into other eyeshadows well but not good for blending out to just skin.

Having played around a bit when I was swatching this I’m still undecided on this palette. There are definitely some gorgeous shades, to me Seaweed, Lagoon, Navy Shower, and Voyage stand out as unique in the collection of eyeshadows I have. Ahoy! is definitely a good colour but not one I haven’t seen before. The mattes are pretty good for mattes, even compared to more expensive brands I’ve tried and I like their current matte formula. The few shimmers with a bit of duochrome just really let it down as well as pacific which isn’t the same pigmentation as the other mattes and caesium which I think is one of the prettiest in the palette but doesn’t work for me when I use it.

I really wanted to love this palette, it has nice colours, it stands out with the mix of blues and greens alongside the warm neutrals but it’s just not got the same level of pigmentation and consistency when it comes to quality as some of their others. If you’ve read other posts on my blog recently you’ll know I do really like Sleek palettes normally, I think they’re great especially for the price and the pigmentation can easily compare to some of the more expensive brands I’ve bought from in the past.

If you want this palette for Voyage, Seaweed, Navy Shower or Lagoon then this may be worth checking out at the price it is as I really do think they’re great eyeshadows. Ahoy! is really good too, I just don’t think it’s a unique colour as there are probably others that do it in other palettes. If it’s one of the other colours that you fancy I’d say it might be best to try another company as I’m sure someone out there has a dupe for these.

To me I normally say with the Sleek ones if there’s six that I like then it’s worth it as £2 an eyeshadow is still great value even if not everything is as good as I’d like. For the four neutrals I will probably use a lot and the three greeny blues that will get used every so often it’s probably worth the money for me simply because I will be using them as I already own it. Would I recommend it to someone who has never bought from Sleek before? No, I just don’t think it’s a good one to buy as a first even if you like the look of the colours as it’s not really a true reflection on what they can do.